Ministry of Justice

Violence in prisons may be caused, or triggered, by a range of factors, including personal characteristics such as existing patterns of behaviour, substance misuse or traumatic life experiences. Factors particularly relevant to the women’s estate include trauma, relational complexities and separation from children.

Information on the rate of assaults in female establishments in the 12 months to June 2025 can be found at the following link: Safety in Custody Statistics, England and Wales: Deaths in Prison Custody to September 2025 Assaults and Self-harm to June 2025 - GOV.UK.

The Managing Women in Crisis Working Group in His Majesty’s Prison & Probation Service (HMPPS) was established to increase understanding of complex behaviour in this group of prisoners, and to consider how best to support them. This includes developing guidance and training for staff. In addition, HMPPS’s Women’s Estate Case Advice and Support Panel supports establishments in the management of women with complex needs. It aims to help reduce risk and to enable women to progress in their sentences.

We plan to allocate up to 15 members of staff to the digital rapid response unit. We will keep this resource allocation under review.

Following the temporary closure of HMP Dartmoor in August 2024, after detection of elevated levels of radon gas, we have been working with specialist radon experts to investigate and assess options to allow us to reopen the prison safely.

The decision on reopening will be made based on the viability of the site, the effectiveness of works to reduce levels of radon, and value for money. We need to be satisfied that reopening the prison is justified in the light of a range of considerations, including compliance with legislative requirements, operational viability, and the cost of mitigation measures.

The prison officer recruitment process assesses English language proficiency at multiple stages, without requiring a separate English test or formal qualifications such as GCSEs at the point of application. The process for recruiting prison officers across all Public Sector Prisons is the same for all applicants, both UK and non-UK nationals, with candidates appointed based on merit, in line with the fair and open Civil Service recruitment principles.

Once candidates have passed the application and online test stages, they are assessed via His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service’s centralised Online Assessment Centre (OAC), which is conducted by trained human assessors who evaluate candidates in real time. Candidates undertake a written assessment, role-play exercises and a structured interview, all designed to assess whether they possess the written and spoken communication skills required for the prison officer role.

The centralised OAC process upholds consistent standards across all applicants and cannot be bypassed through automated or multiple-choice responses alone. This approach ensures that any difficulties in understanding instructions or in expressing responses clearly are identified and reflected in the assessment outcome. The assessment process also includes fitness and medical checks, which are applied to the same standard for all candidates, regardless of nationality.

We continuously evaluate our assessment process for all stages of prison officer recruitment to ensure best practice and integrate improvements appropriately as new tools and methodologies become available. Future changes to the assessment process will continue to assess a candidate’s English proficiency against the communication skills required for the prison officer role and will remain aligned with professional attainment levels used across comparable professions.

The information requested is not centrally recorded.

Collecting it would involve a search of the records of each prisoner in England and Wales over the last five years. It could not, therefore, be obtained without incurring disproportionate cost.

The number of foreign national offenders in prison is published as part of the Offender Management Quarterly statistics series. The series can be accessed with the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/offender-management-statistics-quarterly.

Foreign nationals who commit crime should be in no doubt that the law will be enforced. Where appropriate, the Ministry of Justice will work with the Home Office to pursue their deportation.

The information requested is not held centrally. Information relating to payments relating to civil claims following the death in custody of prisoners is not broken down by sentence-type.

It remains a priority for the Government that all those on IPP sentences receive the support they need to progress towards safe release from custody or, where they are being supervised on licence in the community, towards having their licence terminated altogether. Guidance has been provided to all prison staff and partner agencies to raise the importance of recognising the heightened level of risk of self-harm and suicide amongst IPP prisoners and an IPP Safety Toolkit has been developed, with a range of resources to promote learning and to help front-line staff support and engage those serving the IPP sentence effectively.

We are reviewing transgender prisoner policy following the For Women Scotland Supreme Court ruling. Alongside this, the Office for Equality and Opportunity is currently reviewing the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s draft updated Code of Practice on single sex spaces.

If the Code is approved, it will be laid before Parliament in due course. We are working closely with the Office for Equality and Opportunity on this, and will come forward with our updated policy on transgender prisoners once this process has concluded.

There were no recorded sexual assaults of female prisoners by biologically male prisoners at HMP & YOI Downview, during the specified periods.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 4 November 2025 to Question 85613.

The Ministry of Justice has a statutory duty to provide Language Services to enable access to justice for users for whom English is not their first language. Language Service needs and spend are assessed to ensure these services offer good value for money for taxpayers while maintaining high standards of service delivery.

The services provided under the Ministry of Justice’s contracts include face-to-face, video, and telephone interpretation for spoken foreign languages, as well as written translation and transcription.

In financial year 2024/25, the Ministry of Justice spent £36,920,721 providing these services via contract.

To date, in financial year 2025/26, the Ministry of Justice spent £20,478,950 providing these services via contract. Expenditure to date is comparable with the same point as last financial year, so we anticipate that overall spend for 2025–26 will be broadly consistent with expenditure in the previous financial year.

The Urgent Warrant Query Unit (UWQU) will be formed out of an existing national service centre which currently answers all calls to the Magistrates’ Courts in England and Wales. Its function will be to provide a reliable and accountable route of escalation for urgent queries to HMCTS from Prisons, covering both Crown and Magistrates' Courts.

We anticipate the unit will be initially staffed with 8 members of existing staff daily based on an assessment of likely contact volumes. Staff allocated to the unit will be given additional training and flexibly deployed to the Query Unit to ensure all calls and emails to the Unit from Prisons are answered and then dealt with swiftly.

The Ministry of Justice uses interpreting and translation services provided under contract.

The information requested is not held centrally.

In line with the principle of judicial independence, it is the senior judiciary and not the Government who have statutory responsibility for judicial guidance and training.

It would therefore not be constitutionally appropriate for the Government to seek to prescribe how this responsibility should be discharged.

The duty of candour is a well-established principle in judicial review, and its application is clearly set out in the Administrative Court’s Judicial Review Guide.

The duty of candour applies at all stages of judicial review proceedings. This duty requires all parties to ensure that relevant information is put before the Court, whether it supports or undermines their case. There is a particular obligation on public authorities to ensure that this duty is fulfilled given they are engaged in a common enterprise with the Court to fulfil the public interest in upholding the rule of law.

At the permission stage, public authorities are required to identify any material facts, highlight any matters of factual dispute and provide a summary of the reasoning underlying the measures in question. The Court can take into account a lack of candour in deciding whether to grant permission.

Civil court rules governing judgments and orders are set out in Part 40 of the Civil Procedure Rules (CPR) and are supplemented by Practice Directions (PD). PD40E provides additional directions in relation to reserved judgments before they are handed down. Paragraph 2.3 of PD40E states that the court will provide a copy of the draft judgment to the parties’ legal representatives, however, paragraph 2.4 goes on to state that a copy of the draft judgment may be supplied to the parties provided that they: 1) do not disclose it or its substance to anyone else; and 2) do not take any action in relation to the judgment until it is handed down. This, therefore, provides for litigants in person to be given an embargoed/draft judgment and to engage with the steps taken before such a judgment is handed down.

It is also important to recognise that Part 1 of the CPR sets out the overriding objective of the rules. These overriding objectives include ensuring that the parties are on an equal footing and can participate fully in proceedings. This is the principal safeguard under pinning how the rules operate in practice.

The judiciary are constitutionally independent and have established their own procedures and policies governing the use of artificial intelligence. Guidance for judicial office holders on the appropriate and responsible use of AI has been issued by the judiciary and is publicly available on the judiciary’s website.

Judicial office holders, like civil servants within the Ministry of Justice, have been provided with secure versions of Microsoft Copilot. The deployment of this tool for judicial use has been subject to a data protection impact assessment to ensure compliance with data protection legislation and principles.

The judiciary’s approach to AI is designed to ensure that any use of AI by judicial office holders is safe, transparent, and consistent with the principles of fairness and non-discrimination, while preserving judicial independence.

Temporary Stop Notice (TSN) is a planning enforcement tool available to local planning authorities to halt breaches of planning control on a temporary basis while they consider whether more substantive enforcement action is required.

While the initial stages of Planning Court proceedings are generally within expected timeframes, delays persist at later stages, and substantive hearings continue to experience backlogs. The number of live cases has gradually increased over the past year.

The time taken to enforce a temporary stop notice has implications for the effectiveness of planning enforcement policy. These notices are intended to provide swift intervention to prevent unauthorised development, but delays in judicial processes can weaken their deterrent effect and undermine confidence in the planning system. Prolonged enforcement proceedings may increase costs for local authorities and frustrate wider policy objectives on development control.

The Government is working with HM Courts & Tribunals Service and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to ensure enforcement tools remain robust and planning policy continues to operate effectively.

This Government was elected with a landmark mission to halve violence against women and girls (VAWG) in a decade. I regularly meet with my counterparts on this and we will publish our cross-government strategy as soon as possible.

Responsibility for the definition of domestic abuse as set out in the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 sits with the Home Secretary. Responsibility for reported incidents of violence against women and girls also sits with the Home Office.

This Government was elected with a landmark mission to halve violence against women and girls (VAWG) in a decade. I regularly meet with my counterparts on this and we will publish our cross-government strategy as soon as possible.

Responsibility for the definition of domestic abuse as set out in the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 sits with the Home Secretary. Responsibility for reported incidents of violence against women and girls also sits with the Home Office.

This Government was elected with a landmark mission to halve violence against women and girls (VAWG) in a decade. I regularly meet with my counterparts on this and we will publish our cross-government strategy as soon as possible.

Responsibility for the definition of domestic abuse as set out in the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 sits with the Home Secretary. Responsibility for reported incidents of violence against women and girls also sits with the Home Office.

This Government was elected with a landmark mission to halve violence against women and girls (VAWG) in a decade. I regularly meet with my counterparts on this and we will publish our cross-government strategy as soon as possible.

Responsibility for the definition of domestic abuse as set out in the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 sits with the Home Secretary. Responsibility for reported incidents of violence against women and girls also sits with the Home Office.

The Ministry of Justice does not hold information on the amount of court time used to pursue Palestine Action prosecutions over the last 12 months.

We have been working with the judiciary and other criminal justice partners to put in place measures to manage anticipated demand and ensure any prosecutions are dealt with efficiently and expeditiously.

As set out in the December 2024 10-Year Prison Capacity Strategy, we are committed to delivering an additional 14,000 prison places and aim to do so by 2031; we have already delivered c.2,600 of these since taking office.

No new prisons have been (a) planned or (b) approved since 5 July 2024.

However, since 5 July 2024, the delivery of c.1,080 places have been approved through the Small Secure Houseblocks programme at the following sites:

• HMP Northumberland

• HMP Lancaster Farms

• HMP Humber

• HMP Ranby

• HMP Onley

• HMP Erlestoke

We have also uplifted the Accelerated Houseblock Delivery Programme by c.125 places at HMP Wayland.

Measuring the scale and nature of child sexual abuse is difficult because it is usually hidden from view. Victims often feel unable to report their experiences and adults are not always able to recognise that abuse is taking place. As a result, there is no data available to represent the full scale of the issue. We therefore do not know how many people are currently experiencing, or have experienced, child sexual abuse or how many potential victims and survivors may be impacted by these changes.

However, the Government recognises, as was reinforced by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, that it might take years and in many cases decades for the victims and survivors of child sexual abuse to come forward and feel ready to disclose their trauma. That is why we accepted the critical issue the Inquiry sought to remedy in calling for reform of limitation law to overcome some of the barriers to justice that are faced by victims and survivors.

The Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry is a statutory inquiry under the Inquiries Act 2005 and Sir Wyn Williams and the Inquiry team have the right to receive full access to the information and witnesses they require in order to investigate what went wrong at the Post Office. The Inquiry is entirely independent. Within its published terms of reference, Sir Wyn has the power to decide what to look at and which evidence to make public.

The Department for Business and Trade is the lead department on Post Office issues, so the Deputy Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Justice has not engaged with the Inquiry on the publication of its evidence. It is important that the Government respect Sir Wyn’s independence, therefore it would not be appropriate for Government to comment further on the Inquiry.

The Ministry of Justice regularly engages with other Government Departments, including the Home Office, on a range of issues relating to marriage law.

Information relating to legal aid expenditure challenging removals under the one-in one-out pilot is not centrally held. Although legal aid expenditure broken down by category is published on a quarterly basis as part of the Legal Aid Agency’s Official Statistics.

In order to obtain information relating to the number of legal aid certificates granted for cases which make specific reference to either the one-in one-out migrant returns policy or removals to France, it would be necessary to manually review every single application for legal representation in connection with judicial review proceedings in the immigration context. That could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Information relating to legal aid expenditure challenging removals under the one-in one-out pilot is not centrally held. Although legal aid expenditure broken down by category is published on a quarterly basis as part of the Legal Aid Agency’s Official Statistics.

In order to obtain information relating to the number of legal aid certificates granted for cases which make specific reference to either the one-in one-out migrant returns policy or removals to France, it would be necessary to manually review every single application for legal representation in connection with judicial review proceedings in the immigration context. That could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

The Ministry of Justice publish quarterly data concerning the open caseload at the Crown Court by geographic breakdown including region and individual courthouse. That data can be found in the ‘Receipts, disposals and open cases in the Crown Court’ tool which is available at the following link: Criminal court statistics quarterly: April to June 2025 - GOV.UK. Quarterly caseload data is published at the end of the following quarter, following a process of data validation and analysis. Therefore, the data for July – September will be published at the end of December, and data for November (as requested) will be published at the end of March 2026.

While over two-thirds of trials currently listed in the Crown Court have hearing dates set within the coming 12 months, a relatively small proportion have allocated dates further out. This can be for many reasons, but is always allocated under independent judicial direction and supervision. The furthest future trial dates by Region are set out as follows:

• London: December 2029
• Midlands: August 2028
• North East: August 2028
• North West: August 2028
• South East: April 2029
• South West: May 2028
• Wales: February 2027

To improve timeliness in the courts and bring swifter justice for victims, the previous Lord Chancellor asked Sir Brian Leveson to chair an Independent Review of Criminal Courts, to propose once-in-a-generation reform. The first part of the Review has now been published. We will carefully consider Sir Brian’s proposals before setting out the Government’s full response.

The information requested around courtroom usage could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

The Crown Court operates from 84 buildings across England and Wales, with a core estate of over 500 courtrooms. Most are jury-enabled and suitable for trials, with the remainder supporting other judicial work, such as interlocutory hearings. The wider HMCTS estate — including magistrates’, civil, family, and tribunal rooms — can also be used for Crown Court business when required. As a result, the precise number of rooms available for Crown Court use at any given time is variable.

HMCTS’s priority is to ensure all funded sitting days are fully utilised each financial year through active courtroom management. Estate capacity is not a limiting factor: last year, we sat 107,771, representing over 99% of our allocation, and we remain on track to deliver all allocated days this year.

Temporary unavailability may arise due to maintenance, but also due to overspill from other trials, alternative judicial activities (such as, box work, civil, family and tribunals hearings, or coroner’s court work), or other legitimate uses (including meetings and video-link sessions). However, these factors do not prevent the Crown Courts from sitting at their funded allocation.

The Ministry of Justice publish quarterly data concerning the open caseload at the Crown Court by geographic breakdown including region and individual courthouse. That data can be found in the ‘Receipts, disposals and open cases in the Crown Court’ tool which is available at the following link: Criminal court statistics quarterly: April to June 2025 - GOV.UK. Quarterly caseload data is published at the end of the following quarter, following a process of data validation and analysis. Therefore, the data for July – September will be published at the end of December, and data for November (as requested) will be published at the end of March 2026.

While over two-thirds of trials currently listed in the Crown Court have hearing dates set within the coming 12 months, a relatively small proportion have allocated dates further out. This can be for many reasons, but is always allocated under independent judicial direction and supervision. The furthest future trial dates by Region are set out as follows:

• London: December 2029
• Midlands: August 2028
• North East: August 2028
• North West: August 2028
• South East: April 2029
• South West: May 2028
• Wales: February 2027

To improve timeliness in the courts and bring swifter justice for victims, the previous Lord Chancellor asked Sir Brian Leveson to chair an Independent Review of Criminal Courts, to propose once-in-a-generation reform. The first part of the Review has now been published. We will carefully consider Sir Brian’s proposals before setting out the Government’s full response.

The information requested around courtroom usage could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

The Crown Court operates from 84 buildings across England and Wales, with a core estate of over 500 courtrooms. Most are jury-enabled and suitable for trials, with the remainder supporting other judicial work, such as interlocutory hearings. The wider HMCTS estate — including magistrates’, civil, family, and tribunal rooms — can also be used for Crown Court business when required. As a result, the precise number of rooms available for Crown Court use at any given time is variable.

HMCTS’s priority is to ensure all funded sitting days are fully utilised each financial year through active courtroom management. Estate capacity is not a limiting factor: last year, we sat 107,771, representing over 99% of our allocation, and we remain on track to deliver all allocated days this year.

Temporary unavailability may arise due to maintenance, but also due to overspill from other trials, alternative judicial activities (such as, box work, civil, family and tribunals hearings, or coroner’s court work), or other legitimate uses (including meetings and video-link sessions). However, these factors do not prevent the Crown Courts from sitting at their funded allocation.

The Ministry of Justice publish quarterly data concerning the open caseload at the Crown Court by geographic breakdown including region and individual courthouse. That data can be found in the ‘Receipts, disposals and open cases in the Crown Court’ tool which is available at the following link: Criminal court statistics quarterly: April to June 2025 - GOV.UK. Quarterly caseload data is published at the end of the following quarter, following a process of data validation and analysis. Therefore, the data for July – September will be published at the end of December, and data for November (as requested) will be published at the end of March 2026.

While over two-thirds of trials currently listed in the Crown Court have hearing dates set within the coming 12 months, a relatively small proportion have allocated dates further out. This can be for many reasons, but is always allocated under independent judicial direction and supervision. The furthest future trial dates by Region are set out as follows:

• London: December 2029
• Midlands: August 2028
• North East: August 2028
• North West: August 2028
• South East: April 2029
• South West: May 2028
• Wales: February 2027

To improve timeliness in the courts and bring swifter justice for victims, the previous Lord Chancellor asked Sir Brian Leveson to chair an Independent Review of Criminal Courts, to propose once-in-a-generation reform. The first part of the Review has now been published. We will carefully consider Sir Brian’s proposals before setting out the Government’s full response.

The information requested around courtroom usage could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

The Crown Court operates from 84 buildings across England and Wales, with a core estate of over 500 courtrooms. Most are jury-enabled and suitable for trials, with the remainder supporting other judicial work, such as interlocutory hearings. The wider HMCTS estate — including magistrates’, civil, family, and tribunal rooms — can also be used for Crown Court business when required. As a result, the precise number of rooms available for Crown Court use at any given time is variable.

HMCTS’s priority is to ensure all funded sitting days are fully utilised each financial year through active courtroom management. Estate capacity is not a limiting factor: last year, we sat 107,771, representing over 99% of our allocation, and we remain on track to deliver all allocated days this year.

Temporary unavailability may arise due to maintenance, but also due to overspill from other trials, alternative judicial activities (such as, box work, civil, family and tribunals hearings, or coroner’s court work), or other legitimate uses (including meetings and video-link sessions). However, these factors do not prevent the Crown Courts from sitting at their funded allocation.

The expansion of Intensive Supervision Courts, as set out in the press release of 25 July 2025, builds on the success of the pilot in Birmingham, Bristol, Liverpool and Teesside. Following this, the Ministry of Justice launched an open Expression of Interest process, which was promoted widely through both national and local criminal justice partners, inviting local areas to apply. This process has now closed, and successful applicants will be announced in the coming months.

We are grateful for the dedicated work of the Criminal Bar Association and their continued engagement with the Department regarding criminal court reform. The legal sector is integral to the functioning of the justice system.

As of June 2025, the Crown Court backlog reached a new high of 78,329. We recognise the impact on victims when trials do not proceed as planned. That is why in December 2024, the Government asked Sir Brian Leveson to conduct an Independent Review of the Criminal Courts, to propose bold and ambitious reforms to improve timelines in courts and deliver swift justice for victims.

The Department has had regular ministerial and official-level engagement on actions to tackle the Crown Court backlog with a wide range of stakeholders, including the Criminal Bar Association.

We are currently considering the first part of Sir Brian’s report and will respond in due course. We look forward to continued engagement with the Criminal Bar Association on this issue in the coming months.

The Government is committed to bearing down on the outstanding caseload and delivering swifter justice for victims, but the challenge facing the Crown Court is significant.

Courts are sitting at, or close to, maximum judicial capacity in almost every jurisdiction, including family and civil, with record investment this year. We are also continuing to invest in the recruitment of c.1,000 judges and tribunal members annually across all jurisdictions.

In the criminal courts, we have announced funding for a record 111,250 Crown Court sitting days for this financial year. This is 5,000 higher than the previous Government funded for the last financial year. There are a range of initiatives underway across the criminal justice system to enhance efficiency within different parts of the system.

But we need to go further and deliver sustainable longer-term reform to make the system fit for the future. This is why we have launched an independent review into the efficiency of the criminal courts, led by Sir Brian Leveson, to deliver once-in-a-generation reform. We welcome the publication of the first part of the Review. We are considering the recommendations and will respond in due course, ahead of legislating, where necessary, when Parliamentary time allows.

In the civil courts, we are seeing a reduction in the time taken between claims being made and trials.

The Family Justice Board has agreed system-wide targets for 2025/26, focused on further reducing delay and outstanding caseloads. Areas delivering the Pathfinder model in private family law have made significant progress addressing delays.

As stated in our consultation response ‘Civil legal aid: Towards a sustainable future’, published in July 2025, we will implement the fee uplifts as soon as operationally possible. We will not backdate the fee uplifts.

All prisons in England and Wales now have some modern video provision to support remote court hearings. In 2024/25, prisons facilitated almost 440,000 video links: over 212,000 of these related to remote court hearings, an increase of 17% on the previous year.

The backbone of video delivery in prisons is the high-capacity, high-quality Video Conferencing Centres (VCCs). These purpose-built facilities are designed to improve the quality of defendants’ interactions with courts during remote hearings. To date 18, VCCs are operational in prisons, and they account for almost half of all video links facilitated. We have delivered two VCCs this year, with one more under construction, and the investment case for more is being considered.

While decisions about remote participation for any parties or witnesses in any jurisdiction is ultimately judicial, HMCTS has the digital and audio technology available to facilitate remote links in all criminal court centres. It is currently investing in the upgrade of that technology through its Digital Audio & Visual Evolution project. This is replacing screens, cameras and audio equipment with modernised hardware which improves the experience for participants where a video link is being used.

We are tackling the root causes of reoffending by investing in a range of interventions which address offenders’ underlying criminogenic needs and support their rehabilitation journey. This includes education, employment, accommodation and access to substance misuse treatment.

We know that education, employment, and accommodation can reduce the chance of reoffending. That is why we are delivering vocational courses, a future skills programme, and expanding the prisoner apprenticeship scheme. All 93 resettlement prisons have key roles in place to prepare prisoners for employment on release, and we have launched regional Employment Councils, which for the first time bring businesses together with prisons, probation, and the Department for Work and Pensions to support prison leavers. We are also expanding our community accommodation service - to support prison leavers at risk of homelessness by providing up to 12 weeks of temporary accommodation for those under probation supervision.

We also know that drug treatment is effective in reducing the risk of reoffending. We work closely with health partners to identify prisoners with a drug need, refer them into treatment, and support recovery. We have funded Incentivised Substance-Free Living units (ISFLs) in 85 prisons, where prisoners sign a behaviour compact, agree to be regularly drug tested and can access enhanced opportunities compared to a standard wing.

We are tackling the root causes of reoffending by investing in a range of interventions which address offenders’ underlying criminogenic needs and support their rehabilitation journey. This includes education, employment, accommodation and access to substance misuse treatment.

We know that education, employment, and accommodation can reduce the chance of reoffending. That is why we are delivering vocational courses, a future skills programme, and expanding the prisoner apprenticeship scheme. All 93 resettlement prisons have key roles in place to prepare prisoners for employment on release, and we have launched regional Employment Councils, which for the first time bring businesses together with prisons, probation, and the Department for Work and Pensions to support prison leavers. We are also expanding our community accommodation service - to support prison leavers at risk of homelessness by providing up to 12 weeks of temporary accommodation for those under probation supervision.

We also know that drug treatment is effective in reducing the risk of reoffending. We work closely with health partners to identify prisoners with a drug need, refer them into treatment, and support recovery. We have funded Incentivised Substance-Free Living units (ISFLs) in 85 prisons, where prisoners sign a behaviour compact, agree to be regularly drug tested and can access enhanced opportunities compared to a standard wing.

Releases in error have been increasing for several years and are another symptom of the prison system crisis inherited by this Government. On 11 November, the Deputy Prime Minister announced a five-point action plan setting out initial steps to address this issue.

Totals for releases in error, including a breakdown by releasing prison (or Prisoner Escort Custody Services), are published each July in the HMPPS Annual Digest, available via HMPPS Annual Digest, April 2024 to March 2025 - GOV.UK, and provide data up to March 2025.

The Government is determined to fix the issue of mistaken releases and ensure the public is properly protected.

Plans to build four new prisons, including HMP Welland Oaks, were announced by the Ministry of Justice in June 2020. As set out in the 10-Year Prison Capacity Strategy, the four new prisons are part of this Government’s plans to deliver 14,000 additional prison places, with an aim to do so by 2031. We are currently on track to do so, having delivered c.2,600 since taking office, including c.1,500 places through the new prison HMP Millsike, which opened earlier this year.

As set out in the 10-Year Prison Capacity Strategy, we are committed to delivering an additional 14,000 prison places. This consists of the construction of four new prisons, including HMP Millsike that opened in early 2025, as well as the expansion and refurbishment of the existing estate.

Our delivery plans include contingency places that act as resilience to the programme if a project becomes undeliverable or provides poor value for money and is not taken forward.

The planned expansion of the estate includes the delivery of new houseblocks at the following prisons:

• HMP Fosse Way

• HMP Elmley

• HMP Northumberland

• HMP Humber

• HMP Ranby

• HMP Bullingdon

• HMP Erlestoke

• HMP Guys Marsh

• HMP Onley

• HMP Lancaster Farms

• HMP Parc

• HMP Channings Wood

• HMP Highpoint

• HMP Leyhill

• HMP Standford Hill

• HMP Springhill

• HMP Wayland

• HMP Hatfield

• HMP Ford

• HMP Hindley

We are on track to deliver 14,000 additional places by 2031 and have already delivered c.2,600 since taking office.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 2 June 2025 to Question 57465.

Construction projects were planned for completion by ISG Construction Limited at the below prisons:

• HMP Birmingham

• HMP Liverpool

• HMP Prescoed

• HMP The Verne

• HMP Kirklevington Grange

• HMP Warren Hill

• HMP Guys Marsh

• HMP Erlestoke

• HMP Leyhill

• HMP Ford

• HMP Standford Hill

• The planned new prison in Buckinghamshire

Work is underway to recommence delivery across these projects. We are committed to delivering an additional 14,000 prison places and are on track to do so by 2031. We have already delivered c.2,600 of these since taking office.